Russia and Belarus started the joint military exercises on Friday. Because of these exercises, all border crossings with Belarus closed from midnight. According to the AFP report, TASR reports this.
“The joint strategic maneuvers of the Russian and Belarusian army … have begun,” the Russian Ministry of Defense said.
Airspace disruption
The West Exercises are held at a time when Russian troops proceed across an extensive front line in Ukraine and intensify air attacks on Ukrainian cities. In addition, they take place after the night during the Russian attacks on Ukraine, the airspace of Poland was disrupted by cheap drones of Russian production of Gerber type, which serve as a bait for air defense. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced before this incident that in connection with the beginning of Russian-white military exercises, the West Poland will close the border with Belarus on Friday night from Thursday to Friday. Railway passes will also be closed. Lithuania and Latvia also announced partial closure of the airspace.
Tusk also pointed out the “critical days” for his country. He said that Poland is closer to the “open conflict” than ever since the Second World War. Polish President Karol Nawrocki said on Thursday that Poland is in a hybrid war with Russia on Earth, at sea and in the air and is exposed to Russian misinformation.
Russian opinion on exercises
Moscow made these concerns easier, AFP notes. “These planned exercises are not directed against anyone,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov on Thursday and refused the claims of Polish officials that these exercises are an aggressive demonstration of power.
The Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj also drew attention to Moscow’s intentions. “The meaning of such steps from Russia is definitely not defensive and is directed not only against Ukraine,” he said.
The West Exercises, which usually take place every four years, will take place in 2025 for the first time since the beginning of the war in Ukraine and will last until 16 September.
According to AFP, Moscow sent approximately 200,000 soldiers to similar exercises in 2021, only a few months before in February 2022 it started an invasion of Ukraine. This year’s exercises are expected to be smaller, as hundreds of thousands of Russian soldiers are deployed in Ukraine. Belarus said in January that 13,000 soldiers would be involved in the exercise, but in May it announced that this number would be reduced by about half.
Simulation of NATO invasion
The Polish Prime Minister claims that the exercises are designed to simulate the occupation of the Sully Corridor, which, according to AFP, is considered a weak place of NATO and could potentially be the first goal of the Russian attack. However, Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko described these concerns as “pure nonsense”.
Belarusian Defense Minister Viktar Chrenin announced in August that Belarus will practice the deployment of Russian ballistic missiles Orešnik and nuclear weapons during joint maneuvers.
